HoP 017 - Raphael Woolf on Socrates

La Rochefoucauld and other “moralists” offer a penetrating and witty critique of human pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Is this just cynicism, or does it support a positive ethic? 

How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy. 

How philosophy at the universities evolved in response to Cartesianism and the “new science.” 

On Plato's middle dialogue depicting the death of Socrates (390 BCE) depicting the death of Socrates. Should philosophers fear death? In the course of giving arguments for the immortality of the soul, we get an elaboration of the recollection theory of knowledge (from the Meno) i ... Show More

<p>Platón fue un filósofo griego antiguo nacido en Atenas durante el período clásico, fundó la Academia, una escuela filosófica donde enseñó las doctrinas filosóficas que más tarde se conocerían como platonismo.</p> <p>Junto con su maestro, Sócrates, y su alumno Aristóteles, Plat ... Show More

In this week's episode, we learn about Plato's "Symposium", which you might think of as philosophy's version of fan fiction. We also learn about Plato's "Theory of Forms" and ask ourselves what makes a tree, well, a tree. This leads to discussion of Plato's famous "Allegory of th ... Show More

Gorgias by Plato audiobook. Genre: philosophy In Plato's Gorgias, a late-night conversation in Athens turns into a fierce trial of what it means to live well. Socrates meets the celebrated rhetorician Gorgias and his ambitious students, Polus and Callicles, and presses a deceptiv ... Show More

The Greek thinker Socrates was put to death for encouraging his students to question everything - from their own beliefs to the laws and customs of Athenian society. But his ideas didn't die with him.  Here's a chance to hear two episodes from our archive examining the legacy of ... Show More

Socrates has been celebrated as the "father of western philosophy". This is particularly remarkable when you consider the fact that we know almost nothing about him for sure. What we consider "Socratic Philosophy" is what has been reported to us by his students. Should we trust w ... Show More

Protagoras by Plato audiobook. Genre: philosophy In Plato's Protagoras, a young and ambitious Athenian named Hippocrates rushes to Socrates with exciting news: the celebrated sophist Protagoras has arrived in town, and Hippocrates wants to become his student. Socrates agrees to a ... Show More

In this episode, I recount Socrates and Thrasymachus' debate on Justice from Plato's The Republic. If you want to support me, you can do that with these links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theoryandphilosophy paypal.me/theoryphilosophy Twitter: @DavidGuignion TikTok: @theoryp ... Show More

Socrates has been celebrated as the "father of western philosophy". This is particularly remarkable when you consider the fact that we know almost nothing about him for sure. What we consider "Socratic Philosophy" is what has been reported to us by his students. Should we trust w ... Show More

This week we talk about the prosperity of athens and how it led to the rise and ideas of a group of philosopher teachers called the Sophists, we tied up some loose ends and helped put all that we've learned in the last two episodes into context with a graph of the presocratics, a ... Show More